Birmingham New Music Festival: Soundscapes

Opening the concert are two works for cello and fixed media: Alexander’s Ce cE CE ceLLo and Monroe Golden’s turkey-call inspired Pinhoti, presented by Craig Hultgren. Lori Ardovino performs her Nattmara for clarinet and soundfile, and Joe’s long-time friend and colleague Alan Goldspiel plays the title track, Soundscapes for guitar and soundfile. Soprano Melanie Williams and performance group Iron Giant (Sam Herman, Brett Huffman, Seth Noble, and Justin Wallace) realize William Price’s A Play on Words for female voice and four male voices. Craig Hultgren closes the concert with three works for the ecello with live processing: Mark Lackey’s A Word with Narcissus, Brian C. Moon’s unLearn, and Holland Hopson’s Snakeskin (Verso). This concert is dedicated to the memory of Joe L. Alexander, an active BAMA member during the first decade of the organization before securing teaching positions in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The Birmingham Art Music Alliance (BAMA) announces the 10th Anniversary Birmingham New Music Festival in seven concerts presenting a wide range of music by Alabama composers including solo piano, four chamber music ensembles, choral music, live electronics, improvised music, and new takes on Appalachian folk music. The festival will take place at Birmingham First United Methodist Church, East Village Arts, Samford University’s Brock Recital Hall, and UAB’s Hulsey Recital Hall. All concerts are free. The festival was implemented in 2014 to further BAMA’s mission of promoting music by Alabama composers and presenting concerts of recently created art music to communities in Birmingham. The 2024 festival honors two composers who died in 2023, Joe L. Alexander and Ed Robertson. Our guest composer is New York City-based Robert Voisey, who founded the 60X60 and Fifteen Minutes of Fame projects.